The Hero Within Them
by hollow-ambitions
Summary: Mary Jane Watson and Peter Parker share a few laughs and a brief kiss before Spider-Man is once again called to protect the city.


**The Hero Within Them**

_There's another world inside of me_

_That you may never see_

Mary Jane Watson walked slowly to Peter Parker's closed window. It was already morning. His alter-ego, Spider-Man, had kept the twenty-year-old out all night once more. She ran her fingertips along the edge of the chipped window sill with a tiny, sad smile lying on her lips.

_There's secrets__ in this life_

_That I can't hide_

            The last few months had been hard on both of them. While Mary Jane knew and understood Peter's situation the best that she was able, she still could not help the sadness that seemed to fill her heart whenever she watched her lover swing away from her to go battle whatever villain had decided to wreak havoc on New York City that day. The possibility that he could be fatally wounded frightened her more than anything else ever had, and so she always found herself waiting on pins and needles for the hero's safe return home. She would then dress and tend to his wounds and then he would get what little sleep that he could. Usually, she watched him as he slept, memorizing the curves of his face, watching his chest rise and fall with each breath that he took. Sometimes, though, when he had been gone all night or all day, she would hold him in his sleep, and she would listen to his heart beat.

_Somewhere in this darkness_

_There's a light that I can't find_

_Maybe it's too far away, yeah_

_Or maybe I'm just blind_

_Maybe I'm just blind_

            The door to the disheveled apartment clicked open with a soft thud and Mary Jane turned away from the window and was immediately at her lover's side. She smiled at his exhausted face before pulling him tightly into an embrace; her smile broadening when Peter wholeheartedly returned the gesture.

            "I've missed you," her words were rumpled by his shoulder, but he smiled at them nonetheless.

            "I missed you too, MJ."

_So hold me when I'm here_

_Right me when I'm wrong_

_Hold me when I'm scared_

_And love me when I'm gone_

_Everything I am_

_And everything in me_

_Wants to be the one_

_You wanted me to be_

Mary Jane pulled away from their embrace as she softly questioned, "Rough night?" She sighed sympathetically as her lover slowly bobbed his head up and down. "Come here and sit down, I'll get the First Aid Kit." Peter voiced no protest as Mary Jane wrapped an arm around his slim waist and gently helped him to his bed. He warily sat down on it and leaned against the headboard with a soft sigh of contentment. Mary Jane could not help but smile at him as she turned towards the desk that was across from them. The First Aid Kit was in the top right drawer.

_I'll never let you down_

_Even if I could_

_I'd give up everything_

_If only for your good_

_So hold me when I'm here_

_Love me when I'm wrong_

_You can hold me when I'm scared_

_But you won't always be there_

_So love me when I'm gone_

Mary Jane quietly opened the drawer and picked up the First Aid Kit. She turned back around to face her lover and warily sat down beside him; careful not to jostle him too much if his injuries were still a little sore, or if he had already fallen asleep.

            "Peter?" No response. She smiled as she lowered her eyes back down to the First Aid Kit and clicked it open. Dabbing a cotton ball in some hydrogen peroxide, Mary Jane gently lifted Peter's right arm and sighed forlornly at the fresh array of scratches, scrapes and slashes that crisscrossed his skin. "Oh, Peter," she sighed once more, holding the cotton ball above two scrapes and squeezing it faintly, allowing the hydrogen peroxide to drip down onto the wounds.

            He stirred and winced in response to the liquid. "That stings."

            Mary Jane giggled at her lover. "You can face Green Goblin's and crazy scientists, but you can't face a little hydrogen peroxide?"       

            "They didn't sting." Both Peter and Mary Jane laughed.

_When your education x-ray_

_Cannot see under my skin_

_I won't tell you a damn thing_

_That I could not tell my friends_

_Now roaming through this darkness_

_I'm alive but I'm alone_

Mary Jane taped the edges of the gauze that she had wrapped around his wounds together to assure that it would not fall off. She placed everything back inside of the First Aid Kit and then snapped it shut and set it aside on the floor. "There," she smiled as she slid down the backboard and wrapped a strong, secure arm around her lover's shoulders, "all fixed up."

            "I didn't cry, so do I get a lollipop?" He questioned with a small smile and Mary Jane giggled at her lover.

            "Yes, what flavor would you like?" Peter pushed himself up on his elbows and smiled at Mary Jane.

            He allowed his eyes to slowly wander hers. "I love you, MJ. A lot." Mary Jane smiled tearfully and opened her mouth to return the words, but was almost immediately cut off by sirens raging somewhere in the distance.

_Part of me is fighting this_

_But part of me is gone_

_Love me when I'm gone_

_When I'm gone_

Peter hurriedly pushed himself up from the bed and into a sitting position. "I'm sorry, Mary Jane," he sighed apologetically, "my enemies _always_ seem to bother us at times like thi-" Mary Jane cut her lover off by pressing her lips against his. Peter slowly rose his hand to her cheek to deepen their kiss when the sirens once again shrieked in the distance. Peter sighed once more. "I'm sorry, Mary Jane." She pressed a single finger to his lips and smiled lovingly at him.

            "Go get 'em, Tiger. I'll be right here when you get back." Peter returned her smile for a few seconds longer before quickly making his way to the window. Mary Jane watched him swing away, but was surprised when her heart did not sigh as it always did. Instead, it was smiling, and smiling gaily. It was in love. "I love you too, Pete," she whispered with a small smile to the empty room. As the faint sounds of someone shouting, "Woohoo!" filled her ears, Mary Jane knew, without any traces of doubt, that her love for Peter, and that Peter's love for her, would help them to remain okay, no matter what villain came along, no matter what the future held.

            Love would keep them alive.

_Love me when I'm gone_

_When I'm gone _

**The End**

**AN: This was my first ever attempt at a _Spider-Man_ story, so please refrain from flaming me :-). I'm naught but an overly obsessed _Pirates of the Caribbean _fan that has grown more than agitated with a certain story of hers and has decided to pursue the ideas for short stories revolving around _Spider-Man _and _Secret Window_ that have been floating around in her head as of late as an attempt to not hurl her computer and that Gosh darned story out of her window…**

**Song: © 3 Doors Down- "When I'm Gone"**

**I tried _really_ _hard_ to keep both Mary Jane and Peter in character, and I hope that I succeeded on at least some level. **

**Fan of _Pirates of the _****_Caribbean_****?**** Go read my other stories! I have two longs (an in-progress series), and then two one-shot's!**

**Also?**** I don't _ever_ write romance, but did with this one. It's dedicated to my mom because I was a bit of a jerk earlier and well, she doesn't deserve a bit of a jerk, and I know that she loves romance stories, so here you go, mom, enjoy!! And I'm sorry. I love you a lot. :)**

**It's ****5:35 AM****. Time for bed. Heh.**

**Please review!!!**

 __


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